Strong connection

Tears rolled down Charliss Ridley’s face as she leaned on her crutches and clung to her mother.

After transferring from Indiana to Missouri, taking a semester off from basketball, and then coming to play at Columbia College; Ridley injured her knee, tearing her ACL before the season even started in an event for the Show-Me State Games.

It was August 2003.

Not only would she have to miss half of her first season as a Cougar, but now her mother, her best friend, was leaving her to go back home to Indiana.

“She was just bawling because she knew I had to let go of her,” her mother, Iris Ridley, said.

Now, a year and a half later, Charliss Ridley’s mother will be watching as her daughter takes the floor with the Columbia College women this morning in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament against Lee (Tenn.) University.

Charliss Ridley is the team’s leading scorer and a two-time America Midwest Conference MVP.

Her knee has since healed, and she doesn’t need to lean on crutches anymore.

But she still clings to her mother’s support, and cherishes the bond they’ve shared over the years.

It was her mother who encouraged Ridley to stick with basketball through all the bumps in the road.

And without her mother’s urging, she may not have tried the sport at all.

A skinny 9-year-old walked out to the free-throw line. She stared up at the basket. Everything looked so unfamiliar. She had never been on the court before.

Then she sank shot after shot.

Charliss Ridley was the champion of her grade school free-throw shooting contest. Her gym teacher put her in the contest after Iris Ridleyencouraged the teacher to “do something to get Charliss into basketball.”

Before then, Ridley had wanted nothing to do with it.

“No, I want to dance, I want to play Barbies. I’m not into playing basketball,” she said.

After winning the regional contest as well, she agreed to try the game out.

“OK, maybe I’ll play,” she said.

Iris Ridley said she knew her daughter was born to play basketball.

A varsity player herself, in high school at Minneapolis North in Minnesota, Iris Ridley experienced her daughter’s ability firsthand.

“She beat me for the first time when she was 12,” Iris Ridley said.

Charliss Ridley kept on winning through high school, eventually earning a college basketball scholarship.

She chose Indiana, and played in 18 games her freshman year, averaging 4.5 points. She dreamed of playing in the Big 10 since junior high.

“I wanted to make Indiana a force in the Big 10 while I was there,” she said.

Instead, she left the Hoosiers after her freshman year. Ridley said problems with the coaching staff, specifically head coach Kathi Bennett, made her realize it would be best for her to play basketball elsewhere.

For Charliss Ridley, it was devastating to have her best laid plans falter.

“One night I was just so sick to my stomach thinking, maybe it’s not in God’s plan for me to play anymore,” she said.

That’s when she called her mother, who comforted her and reassured her that there would be a place for her.

“God had given Charliss special talent in basketball, and I believed he would find a place for her to use it,” Iris Ridley said.

Seeing her mother’s dedication to her faith inspired Charliss Ridley in her own faith. They share a common belief in God’s plan, which helped them after dreams were dashed at Indiana.